Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

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Construction site flagger John Sparks, 51, of Salem died Saturday after being run over by a dump truck. The Beaverton accidental death took place on 173rd Avenue, near Walker Road in Washington County where construction crews have been at work since July.

Witnesses said Sparks was doing his job as a traffic flagger when the dump truck backed over him. Police investigating the Oregon truck accident say it is likely Sparks was standing in the truck’s blind spot when he was hit. The driver of the truck was checked for drug or alcohol use, but a Beaverton police detective told reporters at the scene the tragic death “just looks like a freak accident.”

Sparks, an employee of Mama Jo’s Flagging, died at the scene. Residents near the work site lit candles in Sparks’ memory, and have also constructed a makeshift memorial.

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In six months, one of the trials in the Oregon police brutality lawsuit accusing Portland police officers of contributing to James P. Chasse Jr.’s wrongful death, because they allegedly used excessive force when apprehending him and then denied him the proper medical care, is scheduled to begin. Already, Multnomah County commissioners have approved a $925,000 settlement that resolves the Portland, Oregon wrongful death claim made by Chasse’s family against the county and several defendants, including former Multnomah County Deputy Bret Burton and correction nurses Sokunthy Eath and Patricia Gayman.

Claims however, are still pending against the city of Portland, former Mayor Tom Potter, Portland Police Officer Christopher Humphreys, Chief Rosie Sizer, police Sgt. Kyle Nice, American Medical Response Northwest Inc., and paramedics Kevin Stucker and Tamara Hergert. Because a court order divided the case in two, there will be a second civil trial in late 2010.

Chasse, 42, was a schizophrenic. Burton, Nice, and Humphreys reportedly arrested him after one of the cops noticed that he appeared to be urinating in public. Police say they chased down the suspect, knocking him to the ground and handcuffing him while he struggled. They also stunned him with a Taser.

Following the incident, Chasse’s vital signs appeared normal. As a result, ambulance workers who arrived at the arrest scene did not take him to the hospital. The jail, however, would not book him because of his physical condition.

The 42-year-old suspect died in police custody as he was being transported to the hospital. According to the Multnomah County medical examiner, Chase sustained major internal injuries, and broke 16 ribs, his sternum, and a shoulder.

While the Use of Force Review Board determined that the way Chase was apprehended did not violate bureau policy, the board said that Chase should have been sent to the hospital right after he had been Tasered. As a result, Police Chief Rosie Sizer is recommending that Nice be suspended.

Portland chief recommends sergeant’s suspension in Chasse’s death, Oregon Live, September 23, 2009
County pays $925,000 to settle part of Chasse lawsuit, Portland Tribune, July 2, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Portland Police Bureau

Taser Deaths Blog

Taser guns ‘raised deaths in custody,’ New Scientist, February 2009

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The family of a 75-year-old nursing home resident is suing Pheasant Pointe Retirement and Assisted Living Residence and Spectrum Retirement Communities of Oregon for her wrongful death. Ruby Larson wandered away from the Molalla nursing home on July 23, 2007. She was never to be seen again. Last year, a judge declared the Alzheimer’s patient legally dead.

The Oregon wrongful death lawsuit, filed on behalf of one of the elderly woman’s sons, contends that Larson had wandered off on more than one occasion yet staff members failed to prevent the final incident from happening. The plaintiff is seeking $2 million.

Oregon Nursing Home Negligence
Elderly and sick persons stay at Oregon nursing homes because they need help taking care of themselves. Some residents, because they suffer from dementia, Alzheimer’s, or another kind of ailment that impairs their memory, have a tendency to wander off and then forget where they are.

It is important that an Oregon assisted facility properly supervises all residents, while paying special attention to patients who are an elopement risk. A nursing home should also make sure that the facility and premises are properly secured so that residents aren’t able to just leave without anyone’s knowledge by walking out front or side doors or jumping out of windows (this can cause injury, especially if the window is located above the ground floor).

Nursing home residents that wander off a premise could end up getting hit by a car, freezing to death, getting hurt in a slip and fall accident, or becoming the victim of a violent crime. Injuries sustained from wandering off may even result in Oregon wrongful death.

Reports of nursing home patients attempting to wander off is not uncommon and Portland, Oregon nursing homes and other assisted living facilities must make sure that this doesn’t keep happening.

Family of missing Ore. patient files suit, 2news.tv/AP, August 4, 2009
Alzheimer’s: Understand and control wandering, MayoClinic.com
Related Web Resources:
Preventing Elopement, Repertoiremag.com
Nursing Homes in Oregon

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A man who says he was acting compassionately when he shot his wife to death because she had an incurable disease has been convicted of murdering her. John Roberts killed his wife while she slept on February 2, 2008. He is also the defendant in an Oregon wrongful death complaint that was brought by her family.

According to Gresham police, Roberts says he shot Virginia because she asked to die. His 51-year-old wife had Lou Gehrig’s disease (myotrophic lateral) and he claims she no longer wanted to live.

Prosecutors, however, say that Virginia was never diagnosed with ALS, no proof exists that she wanted him to murder her, and that Roberts had spent their life savings. They disputed his claim that the shooting was an assisted suicide—state law considers this action manslaughter when a doctor isn’t involved.

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In Oregon, Portland residents Teresa and Jack Daggett are suing a Washington State clinic for their daughter’s overdose death. Their Multnomah County wrongful death lawsuit is seeking $1.3 million from Payette Clinic.

The couple’s 18-year-old daughter, Rachel Daggett, died last December after she smoked a synthetic narcotic pill. Oregon police traced the pill to two Troutdale brothers. One of the brothers, Ronald Zaloznik, says he became addicted to oxycodone after a nurse practitioner gave him a prescription. The younger brother, 18-year-old Tyler, says that he also used pills and opiates.

In their Oregon wrongful death complaint, the Daggetts are accusing the clinic of consciously disregarding the risks when it prescribed oxycodone to Ronald. The two brothers and Rachel’s friend, Shane Douglas Gill, pleaded guilty to possession and delivery of controlled substances.

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The parents of a 3-year-old boy that died after surgery have agreed on a $200,000 Portland, Oregon wrongful death settlement with the doctor that performed the procedure. Ian McClellan died from septic shock 8 days after Dr. Jayant Patel perforated the 3-year-old’s bowel while trying to insert a feeding tube inside him. The surgical malpractice incident took place on February 5, 1999.

This is not the first Oregon medical malpractice lawsuit naming Patel as a defendant. Also, in 2000 the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners barred the surgeon from working again in the state. He eventually moved to Australia where he kept performing surgeries. He has been charged with manslaughter in that country over the deaths of three patients. Patel has been called “Dr. Death.”

Per Matthew and Anna Maria McClellan’s Oregon medical malpractice involving fatal injuries to minors lawsuit that they filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Patel discovered the perforation the day after the surgery when he opened up their son again. They say that Patel and the hospitals told them that Ian died because he developed a postoperative infection. It wasn’t until April 15, 2005 when the Oregonian began publishing a number of articles about Patel’s work that they discovered the real reason their son died. The McClellans had originally sued Patel and the hospitals for $1.55 million.

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Last December, our Portland, Oregon personal injury law firm blog post about a wrongful death case filed against the city of Sandy and a number of individuals over the police shooting death of a Gresham man. This week, an announcement was made that the family of 27-year-old Fouad Kaady has reached a $1 million settlement with the Oregon city and former police officer William J. Bergin.

Kaady was burned, naked, and bleeding when Officer Bergin and Clackamas County sheriff’s Deputy David E. Willard approached him on September 8, 2005. Kaady reportedly was behaving erratically and would not cooperate with police. He had also just rear-ended three motor vehicles and damaged the vehicle he was driving. According to witnesses, Kaady, who has a history of mental illness, was making wolf-like sounds.

To apprehend Kaady, police at first used a stun gun and shocked him several times. They then shot him seven times after he jumped on top of a police car.

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In Multnomah County Circuit Court, the family of a woman who died after the kayak she was riding in on the Rogue River capsized last summer is suing Echo River Trips for her Oregon wrongful death. Cynthia Lee Von Tungeln, was 52.

According to the wrongful death complaint, Von Tungeln was kayaking with a large guided party from Grave Creek to Foster Bar on June 27, 2008 when the inflatable raft that she and another woman were in capsized as they tried to get past Picket Fence, which is a series of rocks. The family’s lawsuit contends that they became trapped in the “unusually high flow” and while Von Tungeln was able to push the other woman out of the area where the water swirled against the rocks, the 52-year-old woman stayed trapped under the water. Von Tungeln drowned and her body couldn’t be recovered until it finally washed free several days after her death.

Von Tungeln’s parents and two adult daughters are seeking at least $4 million for her wrongful death: $1.5 million for lost wages, savings, and services, $2 million for loss of companionship, $500,000 for Von Tungeln’s anguish when she was thrown from the kayak and got caught under the water, and memorial and burial costs.

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The parents of 15-year-old Austin Miller have reached an Oregon wrongful death settlement with TriMet over their son’s bicycle accident death. Austin died on February 11, 2008 when he was struck by a bus while riding a bicycle. Under the terms of the agreement, TriMet will pay Michael and Stephanie Miller $200,000 with an additional $175,000 pending adjudication.

TriMet has argued that the Oregon Tort Claims Act caps its liability at $200,000 and that is the maximum they should owe for Austin’s death. Personal injury attorneys for the Millers, however, have pointed out that the state’s current tort claims cap is now $400,000.

The Miller family’s Oregon wrongful death complaint accuses a TriMet bus driver of acting negligently when driving into the bike lane where Austin was riding his bicycle. Their wrongful death lawyer has said that the bus driver can be overheard in an audio recording telling TriMet’s dispatch that she thought she gave Austin enough space.

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In Oregon, the family of Tracey Sparling is suing a cement truck driver and his employer for her wrongful death. Sparling, 19, sustained fatal crush injuries on October 11, 2007 after her bicycle was struck by the large truck. The deadly Portland truck accident occurred at the intersection of Burnside and Southwest 14th Avenue.

Both Sparling and truck driver Timothy Wiles were stopped at a red light. Sparling was stopped in a bike lane located on the right side of the road in an area that Wiles couldn’t see.

When the light turned green, the trucker turned right. Sparling was crushed under the truck’s back wheels. The cement truck, which weighed 40,000 pounds, belonged to Rinker Materials, which was purchased by Cemex Corp.

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50 SW Pine St 3rd Floor Portland, OR 97204 Telephone: (503) 226-3844 Fax: (503) 943-6670 Email: matthew@mdkaplanlaw.com
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